Cloud gate

Informatics The Chameleon cloud testbed has sped development of PortHadoop-R, a portable Hadoop reader for parallel file systems which can integrate data transfer with data analysis. The NASA cloud library uses PortHadoop-R as part of its MapReduce analytics. Goddard Cumulus Ensemble simulation shown here utilizing PortHadoop-R to enable real-time dynamic visualization cloud vertical velocities. Some scientists dream about big data. The dream bridges two divided realms. One realm holds lofty peaks of number-crunching scientific computation. Endless waves of big data analysis line the other realm. A deep chasm separates the two. Discoveries await those who cross these estranged lands.Unfortunately, data cannot move seamlessly between Hadoop (HDFS) and parallel file systems (PFS). Scientists who want to take advantage of the big data analytics available on Hadoop must copy data from parallel file systems. That can slow workflows to a crawl, especially those with terabytes of … [Read more...] about Reaching for the Stormy Cloud With Chameleon

Cloud Computing A complicated decision: To purchase infrastructure or run remotely in the cloud? Bandwidth and data security issues provide the easiest gating factors to evaluate, because an inability to access data kills any chance of using remote infrastructure, be it the public cloud or at a remote HPC center. If running remotely is an option, then the challenge lies in determining the return on investment (ROI) for the remote and local options including: Be aware of any technical biases that might affect the analysis. For example, there tends to be significant organizational pride associated with owning a large hardware deployment like a supercomputer or compute cluster, in which case legacy design decisions that justified previous hardware procurements might cause pushback against a decision to move to a remote solution, plus provide future headaches after a decision to run remotely has been made. Estimating CostsIndirect costs require a judgment call, and can be the basis by … [Read more...] about Assessing Cloud ROI for HPC and Enterprise

Supercomputers Altera and Intel announced that the companies have entered into an agreement for the future manufacture of Altera FPGAs on Intel's 14 nm tri-gate transistor technology. These next-generation products, which target ultra high-performance systems for military, wireline communications, cloud networking, and compute and storage applications, will enable breakthrough levels of performance and power efficiencies not otherwise possible."Altera's FPGAs using Intel 14 nm technology will enable customers to design with the most advanced, highest-performing FPGAs in the industry," said John Daane, president, CEO and chairman of Altera. "In addition, Altera gains a tremendous competitive advantage at the high end in that we are the only major FPGA company with access to this technology."Altera's next-generation products will now include 14 nm, in addition to previously announced 20 nm technologies, extending the company's tailored product portfolio that meets myriad customer needs … [Read more...] about Altera to Build Next-Generation, High-Performance FPGAs on Intel 14nm Tri-Gate Technology

CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday took the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to announce that Microsoft plans to donate US$1 billion worth of cloud services to serve nonprofits and university researchers over the next three years.The company's recently formed Microsoft Philanthropies unit will manage the contribution as part of a three-part effort to provide cloud services to worthy nonprofits, boost access to university researchers, and increase last-mile Internet access to communities that lack basic services."Microsoft is empowering mission-driven organizations around the planet with a donation of cloud computing services -- the most transformative technologies of our generation," Nadella said, noting that more than 70,000 organizations will gain access to cloud services through the initiative.Microsoft plans to make Microsoft Azure, Power BI, CRM Online and its Enterprise Mobility Suite more available to nonprofits through the Microsoft Philanthropies unit. The … [Read more...] about Microsoft Cloud Rains Free Services on Nonprofits

Programming The software company announced January 4, 2014, that Nadella will replace Steve Ballmer, who said in August that he would leave the company within 12 months. Nadella will become only the third leader in the software giant's 38-year history, after founder Bill Gates and Ballmer. Board member John Thompson will serve as Microsoft's new chairman.Indian-born Nadella, who is 46 and has worked at Microsoft for 22 years, has been an executive in some of the company's fastest-growing and most profitable businesses, including its Office and server and tools business.For the past seven months, he was the executive vice president who led Microsoft's cloud computing offerings. That's a new area for Microsoft, which has traditionally focused on software installed on personal computers rather than on remote servers connected to the Internet. Nadella's group has been growing strongly, although it remains a small part of Microsoft's current business.Analysts hope that he can maintain the … [Read more...] about Nadella to Head Microsoft; Gates Leaves Chair Role

Cloud Computing Here's a look at key moments in Microsoft's history.1975: Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.1980: Ballmer joins the company.1981: IBM ships first personal computers running MS-DOS operating system.Nov. 20, 1985: Microsoft ships first version of Windows, more than a year after Apple came out with its Mac computer with a graphical user interface and a mouse replacing keyboard commands.1992: Nadella joins the company.Aug. 24, 1995: Windows 95 is released in one of Microsoft's biggest product launches ever.May 18, 1998: Justice Department and 20 states sue Microsoft, accusing the maker of the ubiquitous Windows operating system of abusing its market power to thwart competition from Netscape and others.July 21, 1998: Widely seen as the successor to chairman and longtime friend Gates, Ballmer is named president of the software company. He'd previously led Microsoft's sales and marketing.Jan. 13, 2000: Gates promotes Ballmer to CEO of Microsoft while staying on … [Read more...] about Microsoft through the Years: From Gates to Nadella

Back in the mid-1990s, then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates offered a prophetic observation.The impact of the Web, he wrote, would be greater than most people thought, but would take longer to happen than was commonly supposed.Turns out, happily for Microsoft, that he was right.Yet now, perhaps not so pleasantly for Redmond, the confluence of mobile computing, social online interactions and cloud computing are together supporting a wave of change that will both be more impactful than many think -- and also happen a lot quicker than is expected.More evidence of this appeared last week, building on momentum that capped a very dynamic 2010.Startup Bitzer Mobile Inc. last week announced its Enterprise Virtualized Mobility solution (EVM), which makes a strong case for an ecumenical yet native apps approach to mobile computing for enterprises.Bitzer Mobile is banking on the urgency that enterprise IT departments are feeling to deliver apps and data to mobile devices -- from BlackBerry to iOS, … [Read more...] about INSIGHTS The Mobile, Social Enterprise Cloud

Sony laid down its markers for PlayStation's months and years ahead with a slew of announcements at the E3 gaming trade show Monday night.PlayStation 4 has been handily outselling Xbox One since the consoles launched at the end of 2013. E3 is a key battleground for both Sony and Microsoft as they reveal upcoming software and hardware they both hope will entice new customers or keep existing users plugged into their ecosystems.Sony revealed new games, first details at new platforms arriving in North America, and a look at original video content coming to the PlayStation Network and movie theaters."Sony's initiatives are hitting that crucial realization phase, making good the fingers-crossed potential that defines a new console's early life," Steve Bailey, senior games analyst at IHS, told TechNewsWorld."PSTV, PS Now, bolstering partnership activity for game content -- but also stepping out into non-gaming climes as a wider living room brand -- and letting its first-party game-creation … [Read more...] about Sony Storms Out of the E3 Gate

The U.S. government's plan to shift major chunks of existing and future information technology programs to cloud-based systems has proven to be easy to say but harder to do. Technical, cultural and financial issues are frequently raised by agency managers as barriers to adopting cloud technology.Various initiatives have been launched to encourage cloud adoption at the federal level. The most recent is the Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, issued in early November by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a unit of the U.S. Commerce Department. The roadmap was released in conjunction with NIST's publication of its final definition of cloud computing.The guide is designed to support the secure and effective adoption of cloud computing by federal agencies to reduce costs and improve service. The guide defines high-priority requirements for standards and outlines technology developments that need to be met for agencies to accelerate their migration of existing IT … [Read more...] about GOVERNMENT IT REPORT The Federal Government’s Map of the Clouds